Heat-regulating system



. P. HERMES.

HEAT REGULATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED Anza, Iszo.

Patented Apr. 19 1923,

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Laws.

B. P. HERMES HEAT REGULATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED. APR. 2B, 1920.

' Patented M1219, 1921.

2 SHEEISv-SHEET 2.

' Y 'To all 'whom t mag/concern.'

BENJAMIN Pos'r HERMES; 0E NEW Yong, N. Y.

Specification of appneation mea' April 28,

Beit known that I, BENJAMIN P. HERMES, a citizen of the United "States,residing at New York city, New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Heat-Regulating Systems, of which the followingis a clear, full, and exactdescriptlon. This invention relates to anapparatus for controlling the heat supplied toV buildings,

. ing when the temperature rises above-70%v and an object of' theinvention is to provide a system ofheat regulation which resultsin asaving o'ffuel and whichv is susceptible' of such control that heat isavailable practically at all timesfwhile overheating is avoided. i i yIn supplying steam -heat tov buildings, especially to apartment houses,it has been .i customarywhere anycattempt is made' at `all to introducean automatic control-to provide a thermostat controlling a quickactingvalve. The thermostat in such a system is often placed in theentrance'hall and set ,to open the valve toadmit steam to the i' pipesleading to the house radiators when the temperature falls below acertain degree,

as for instance 65 or 68 F., said valve clos- If the outer doors areopened at such inter- L vals that .the `temperature of the hall-does notget above 70, heat is'lconstantly available at any'radiator.- If,however, the outer doors are closed for a considerable time, thetemperature in the hall may reach 70--and no steam is available at anyof the radiators,f

although it maybe very muchv needed.

My improved system` overcomes objections of this character, andalso'other objections inherent in thermostatic control systems, by

using instead time ycontrolled means for 40.

turning on and cutting off the heat supplied to the radiators, atfrequent intervals,which intervals may be varied atwill. In thecase ofsteam heating systems to which myl invention is shown applied, byv'wayof concrete example, I prefer to control the valve inthe main line sothat it opens and closes slowly, and I have provided novel mechanism tovaccomplish this. Further objects and advantages will become apparentfrom the' following detailed description andclaims, when considered inconnection with-the accompanying drawino's, in whieh- `igure l shows a`portion'of the mechanism comprising my improved heat regulating system;

lpurposes, and for this reason it .EEnT-REGULATING SYSTEM.

Letters Patent Patented Apr. 19,1921'. 1920. serial No. 377,256.

2 isla view, more or less diagrammatic, showing the time-controllingmechamsm for the electric motor, which-controls the valve motor shown inFig. l

F ig. 3 is a plan View of atwo-part mercury cup, whereby contacts aremade to the motor; Fig 4 is a plan view of a mercury cu sociated withthe turning on and olf ol) electricftime-controlling switch Fig.' 5 is aperspective view of the adjustasthe able contact arms for varying thetimes of f actuat1on of ,the electric motor to control the Y opening andclosing of the valve shown in ig. ..6' is a sectional View through thesleevesV supporting the movable contact arms; and l Fig. 7 is asideelevation of portions 'of the electric-motor. u

My improved heat regulating system is adapted for various forms of heat`regulation, although in the particular embodiment of the .invention Ihave shown the same `vin connection with al steam heating system.

In such systems, the steam used for heating purposes may be generated bya boiler on the premises, or it may b e supplied from outside .sourcesas i is customary inv large cities. In the present case, the source ofheat supply is outside of the building to be heatedtand in the drawingsthisc source of' supply 1s represented as a main supply pipe,

reducing valveof the ordinary type, sothat steam entering' through thepipe l at high pressure isreduced, and so that the pressure in the pipevleading to the radiators ofthe "building carries a pressure of only afew pounds. The operating mechanism for the reducing valve is indicatedat 4, and consists of the usual diaphragmscontrolling the reducingvalve, said'. valve having a stem 5, to which is connected a lever 6,pivoted' at 7, and having a weight 8 adjustable on armg t1,'varyfthepressure of the Steam 25 cient radiation to furnis which may be admittedto thi-,pipe 3. with; A

the weight 8 in any particular position,

steam would normally be admitted at a constadt pressure to pipe -3. Theparts above` 'V10 which time may be varied to suit different conditionsof temperature 1n accordancev xwith the season and the heat requirementsof the,pa'rticular building being heated; iter the valve has remainedclosed for the desired period of time, it is againV automatically openedto the extent permitted by the reducing valve, so that myinventionwhichv is in the nature of a'n attachmentdoes not in any wayinterfere with theusual reducing valve.

' In localitieswhere atemperature throughout the winter variesconsiderablyfrom day to day and often during different parts of the sameday, itis necessar to provide suiiiadequate heat during the coldestweather, and consequently YVif the vusual amount of. steam is suppliedto the radiators during warmer periods, the result will be anoverheating of the build- 3'0 in and whlemindividual tenants may turnofi the steam at their radiators, it is quite usual to openv thewindows, 'resulting in waste of considerable heat. i

My system of heat control purposes todo automatically what4 the tenantmight do manually-that is to say, I provide an automatic control wherebythe steam or other heatmedium isf completely cut off for-a Y. shortln'terval of time; as, for example, for

4'0 iive minutes to even fifteen or twenty'minl utes, depending upon theoutside tempera- -ture, and then turned on again for a-longer or shorterperiod of time, depending also upon the outside temperature and upon thedemands of the particular building for heat; In the case of steam, whichis the heating medium usually employed, it results-that the steam in theradiators may be completely condensed during the timethe heat is cutoff; and due to the largey quantity of latent heat, which'is convertedinto sensible heat during condensation, the temperature of the radlatormay remain unalt red at` substantially 212. AUnder some conditions ofweather it may be desirableto have the supply ofsteam cut oli' only forsuflicient time for complete condensation to occur at the radiators; butunder dili'erent conditions lof temperature, entirely satisfactoryheating 30 may also be obtainedby cutting off theA steam for a Vlongerperiod, allowing-the radiators to cool somewhat. The s stem, however, isextremely flexible, thereb itl for any condition of temperature which B5may prevail at the time.

y adapting With the above explanation, it will now v be readilyunderstood thata broad aspect of my invention contemplates the automaticcontrol of heat, and more particularly of the valve 2 which admits theheating element, andwhich in the particular embodi; ment is steam, suchcontrol acting to vcut it' ofi'y or turn on the supply of heat atfrequent time intervals, which .intervals may be varied and whichintervals are of such duration that the temperature of the rooms or thespace to be heated remains substantially ,i

constant.,

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, the valve 2 yiscontrolledby a fluid motor consisting of a weight 9 suspended in achamber 10 by a iexible member' 11 passing over a pulley 12, andconnected at 13 to7 theV lever 6.' The weight 9 isreferably soconstructed and is of such s cilic gravity that ,it will oat in water.It is also sufficiently 1 trol of a governor, which governor consists ofa valve 14 movable in a lcasing-15. The

valve v14 is provided with a seatf16, which is normally forced by aspring 17 to close the connection from lthe chamber 1,8 to the conduit19, which conduit connects the valve` chamber 18 with the weight chamber10;

and also connected with the chamber 18 is a pipe 20 Ileading to a sourceof fluid supplyas, for instance, the usual water main. This '22,' andthe valve 14 is provided with an upper portion 23 which controls`communication between the chamber 22 and the conduit 19.

. Withy the parts in the position'shown in Fig. 1, any water in thechamber 10 above the conduit 19 will -flow through said conduit and intothe chamber 22, which may be provided with a-waste pipe 24, throughwhich the twater may be conducted to a sewer. Under these conditions,the weight 9 occupies such a position that the valve 2 is tightlyclosed, so that no steam is admitted to the pi e 3.

In orer to open the valve, I provide means, under control of the timingmechanism, which will be described later, for forcing down the valve 14so as tovconnect the chamber 18 with the conduit 19. Under theseconditions, water will flow through the pipe 2O into the chamber 18around the valve 14, and into the conduit 19 tothe chamber l0, Theweight 9 will rise, permitting the weight v8 to act to cause the valveto ogen and to admit the steam to the pipe 3.

wing'rto' the fact that steam enters the pipe at ,considerable pressure,it requires valve 14 consists of a weight 25 having a 'more in detail.

stem 26, suitably guided in brackets 27 and` 28, said stem engaging thestem 29 of the valve 14 when the weight 25 is allowed to descend. Thestem 26 of the weight carries limiting stops 30, which abut against thebrackets 27 and 28, and the weight 25 is suiciently heavy to overcomethe action of the spring 17. Connected to the weight 25, at 31, is aflexible member 32 which passes over a pulley 33, which pulley isconnected to a shaft of av motor, whose operation is electricallycontrolled by a time switch. This maybe of any suitable construction,and for the purposes of this application I have shown a conventionalform, -although it is obvious that a different form of motor maybesubstituted without in any manner departing from the spirit of myinvention. Referring to Fig. 7, the pulley 33 is mounted on a shaft 34,passing through a sleeve 35, suitably supported by standards 36'. fRigid with theshaft 34 is ar disk`37, which carries on its inside adouble-faced rack 38. The disk 37 also carries anelectrically-conducting contact pin 39 Vfor controlling electricalconnections for the motor, which connections will be later describedReferring to Fig. 2, the rack 37 is engaged by a pinion 4() mounted upona ioating fulcrum 41, carried by arms 42, supported Jon a shaft 43. Thefloating shaft 41 also carries a cog wheel 44, which meshes l.with apinion 45 rigid with the shaft 43. Also rigid with said shaft 43 isanother cog wheel 46, which engages the pinion 47 on the armature shaftof the motor. The armature 48 is provided with a commutator ring uponwhich bear the brushes 49 and 50. In order to control-the time intervalduring which the motor may operate. and to control the turning on andoff of the steam at the valve 2, there is provided a timing switch,which is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 2, said switch including contactarms 53. On this shaft is a sleeve 54, carrying Contact arms 51 and 52,These contact arms rotate in front of a dial shown diagram matically at57, which may be graduated to indicate suitable time intervals. Thesleeve 54 is frictionally driven,y from the shaft 53, and therefore thearms 51 and 52 may be ad# justed relatively to the .arms 55 and 56.These arms are adapted, when they reach approximately a verticalposition, to dip into mercury cups, the arms 51 and 52 being in the sameplane and dipping into' mercury .cup 59, Fig. 3; the arms 54 and 55,when in approximately verticall position, dipping into mercury cup 58.Electric leads enter the meicury cups 58 and 59 at 60 and 61respectively. An electric lead also engages the casing of the timingmechanism, as at 62, and is inJ electrical contact with both of thepairs of.contact arms. 1

Referring to F ig. 7, there is provided an insulated disk 63, supportedby the righthand standard 36; and to the right of this disk is a contactsector 64 extending through the larger portion Iof a circumference, as

supplied by a battery or4 other suitable source, indicated at 67.

In Fig. 2, the contact arm 51 is shown as vapproaching the mercury cup,and when it dips into it an electric circuitis completed l as follows:

From the battery 67, through wire 68,to brush 50, through the armatureto brush 49, wires69 and 70 to 62, through arm 51, mercury -cup 59, lead61, wire 81, switchV 82 110 Vwhich is closed, wires 83, 84, 85, 86, 87'vto contact 65, and pin 39 whichis in electrical contact with disk 37.Wire 75 may be connected to the disk 37 through the framework of themotor, the current then flowing from thepin 39 to wire 75, and throughwires 76, v

77 and 78 tothe battery 67 The motor then starts to move in thedirection ofthe arrow` shown on the motor armature 48, and through thetrain of gtars starts to rotate the pinion 40 in an anti-elo wisedirection. The pinion is provided with a collar adjacent thereto, whichengages the edge 7 9, of

a cam 80, so that said pinion rolls around t-he end of the cog track 38and engages the 125 outer cogged surface thereof. This results in aclockwise rotation of the disk 37, carrying the pin 39 from off theContact 66 and into contact vwith the sector 64, thus maintaining theelectric circuit through the mo-A tor, which continues to run until thedisk 37 lar of the pinion 40 cornes into contact with by the arm" 55dipping into the mercury inv the opposite surface of the cam 8O andprevents momentum of the disk 37 from carrying it farther. Rotation ofthe motor in the direction just described will resultV in clockwiserotation of the pulley 33, and a consequent lowering of the weight 25,which acts on the valve 14 to open the same, and permits water toenterthe chamber 10 to raise the weight 9 and permits the valve 2 to beopened. Steam will then iiow into the pipe 3 and to the) radiatorsconnected thereto; and such flow will continue, not o'nly during thetime that the contact arm 5l remains in `contact with'the mercury in thecup 59, but-until another contact is made the cup 58. When this happens,current will flow through the batteryf67 to wire 68, brush 50, brush 49,wires 69 and 70, contact 62, contact arm 55, mercury cup 58,electriclead 60, wires 72, 73, V74 to contact 66. It will be' rememberedthat the contact pin 39 isnow in contact with 66. Current thereforefowsthrough said pin to the disk 37 tp wires 75, 76, 77, 78, and back tobattery.

The motor will then begin to rotate in the same direction as beforegbutby reason of the fact that the pinion 40 rides upover the end of the cogtrack 38 and onto the inner cogged surface of said track, the disk 37will rotate in a contra-clockwise direction, and the pin .39 will movefrom the contact 65 onto the conducting segment 64. This movement willcontinue until contact pin moves on from the vsegment 64 to the contact66, when the parts will again be inthe position shown in Fig. 2.

up flexible member 32, raising the weight v25 so that the valve 14 willbe raisedby the spring 17, permitting the fluid in the chamber 10 toflow through the conduit 19, chamber 22 and waste outlet, 24. Thedescent of -the weight 9 will close the valve 2 to cut ofi'Cmtra-clockwise rotation ofthe disk 37 will result in winding4 manuallyby breaking the circuit throughl the motor at any "convenient place by ahand-operated switch after the timing mechanism has operated to shut offthe valve 2.

However, in order to make the entire system automatic, 1 have provided asecond timecontrolling mechanism 88 for cutting off the current from thetiming mechanism already described'. Said second timing mechanism,consists of a disk 89, having a cutaway portion 90. This disk 89 is ofelectrically-conducting material and is grounded through..

the clock frame' to the wire 91, which connects withwire 84. The disk 89makes electrical contact with a .mercury cup 92, from which passes alead 93 connected to the wire 81. When this second timing mechanism isused,

l the switch 82 is normally opened; and vduringthat portion o'f the daywhen it is desired to have the control by the rst timing mechanism, inoperation the conducting portion of the disk 89 makes contact with themer'- cury cup 92, so that .current iowing through the contact arms 51or 52 will pass through the wire 81 to lead 93, mercury cup 92, disk 89,wire 9() and wire 84. The disk 89 is driven by clock work, and makes onerotation in twenty-four hours. The cutaway portion 90 may be of anysize,and in fact a number of disks 89 may be provided having cutaway portions90 of different lengths, said .cutaway portion acting to break thecurrent through the mercury cup and therefore render inoperative thecontrol of the motor by the on-contact arms 51 and 52. It will beapparent that after the contact is broken at the disk 89, the contactarm 55 or 56 will subsequently act to cause operation of 'the motor to.cause the valve 2'to be closed; but due to the fact'that the contact isbroken at the disk 89, the on-contact arm '51 or 52 will not 'againcause the valve to open. However, after alperiodv of time of longer orshorter durationdepending upon the length of the cutaway port-ion 90-thedisk 89 will again make contact with'the mer-4 cury cup 92, andsubsequently the closing of the contact through either arm 51 or 52 willcause the valve 2 to be opened. The disk 90 is mounted on a sleeve whichfrictionally engages a driving shaft so that said disk may be adjustedto cause a circuit through the timing mechanism 88 to be interrupted atany time desired during the twenty-four hours.

lhile l have shown two pairs of arms 51-52 and 55-56, it is obvious thatmore than two pairs may be provided if desired.

VIt is also obvious that a single arm'could ,obvious that variations maybe resorted to within the spirit thereof. and parts ofthe improvementmay be used' wlthout others.

heat on and off, and means for automatically rendering said timingmechanism ineffective during selected times..

1 2. In a heat regulating system, in combination, timing mechanism forcontrolling the turningon and cutting off of a source of heat supply,said timing mechanism ycomprising arms rotating once in an hour, meansunder control of said arms for turning said heat on and oil', and asecond timing mecha.-

vnism com rising a twenty-four hour moving disk and means controlled bysaid disk for automatically rendering said first-mentioned timingmechanism ineffective during selected times. e l

13. In a heat regulating system, in combination, an electric motor,means controlled thereby for turning on and cutting off a source of heatsupply, a timing mechanism and means controlled by said timing mechanismfor determining when said motor Vshall operate.- Y

14:. In a heat regulating system, in combination, with a sourceof h'eatsupply, of an electric motor, means controlled thereby for turning onand cutting off a source of heat mechanism comprising on and off contactvarms for closing a circuit through said motor to determine when saidmotor shall operate.

15. In a heat regulating system, in combination, a valve controlling asource of heat supply, amotor connected to said valve to control itsopening'and closing, a governor, said governor including a valve forcontrolling the supply of power to said motor, and` a second motoryincluding a weight adapted to act on said governor valve.,`

16. In a heat regulating system, in combination, a valve controlling asource of heat supply, a motor connected to said valve to control itsopeningand closing, -a governor, said governor including a valvetocontrol the supply of power to said motor, a' second motorincluding aweight. adapted to act on said governor valve, and time controlled means`for determining when said weight 1 shall become effective on saidgovernor Valve; Signed at New York city, NIY., this 27 th day of April,1920.

BENJAMIN P os'r HERMES.

